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Joel Azumah, president of Interstate's owner, Transport Azumah, said Saturday that he decided to cancel service because of high expenditures and customers unwilling to use credit cards to pay in advance. He said it quickly became evident most customers in the Bakersfield area wanted to deal in cash, and his company by and large deals in credit.

"A lot of people were either disinterested or did not have the ability to use the technology necessary to get on our buses," Azumah said.

He said the buses transported about 300 people, including 95 on Thanksgiving day, during their week-long run. He said he's disappointed he wasn't able to arrange additional credit to keep the service running, and he's sorry for any difficulties passengers who used the service over the holidays may experience in getting back home.

The owner of the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company said he's lost money on the endeavor. He said the problems he experienced in Bakersfield were unlike what he's gone through in other parts of the country.

"We're not the type of operation maybe that this market needed," he said. "They need a type of operation that's a bit more low-tech, more traditional."

Azumah reported more than a week ago that he was experiencing problems regarding cash-only customers and a lack of parking and on-site personnel. Originally, the service planned to pick up and drop off passengers at the Amtrak station on Truxtun Avenue, but concerns that this would overwhelm Amtrak station parking caused him to move the location to the Golden Empire Transit District bus stop on the south side of Truxtun near Q Street.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.